I’ve often wondered about the students who go to the Student Learning Center or Hot Corner to study or whatnot. You know the handfuls of students who sit with their laptops and type vigorously while sipping coffee or Cheerwine. Why are there so many people, and why do they choose to come here? I can understand why students grab seats in the SLC between classes, but it’s almost 10 p.m. on Sunday and there are at least 50 students chatting and studying. Why don’t they just study in their rooms — aren’t public places like the SLC and Hot Corner just noisy and distracting? I often argued this and yet here I am.

Is it the fast Internet service? Students in many dorms get service, but I know the UGA wireless is better in the SLC for me. Students who live off campus may not have Internet service, but in this age where people are more likely to have a cell phone and no landline phone in their homes, that option doesn’t seem likely. Again, the service could just be faster.

Or are my opinions and observations incorrect? Is it really as noisy and distracting as I think? Several friends of mine have admitted that they can’t study around their roommates or that staying in their room is more distracting — more opportunities to watch TV, play video games, or just doze off.

Then again, you look around and see the guy with his head in his hands, his iPod earphones in his ears and frustrated glares at his intense political science notes. You see that the girl who was sitting alone and intently studying her Biology book is now laughing on her cell phone. You note that someone has music on a laptop turned up so much that you (and everyone else) can hear the words from across the room. Two girls are merely eating ice cream and chatting, and my boyfriend and I have spent hours browsing and posting blogs.

Maybe it all links back to the fact that everything links back to social needs. People want to study but need to be around action. I wanted to look at stuff online but went to Hot Corner for the walk during a sunny day and to get to the coffee shop atmosphere.

In essence I still see that for the majority, there’s not an insane amount of studying going on here. Maybe that’s just because it’s my first year. Maybe that’s just because I don’t have to study as much. Maybe that’s because it’s true. I guess those who are serious are locked in their rooms with no distraction, have conquered the quiet room in Tate or got a key for a study room on the fifth, sixth, seventh floors of the library.